Baking powder

Baking Powder is a dry chemical leavening agent used in baking and deodorizing. There are some formulations; all contain an alkali, characteristically sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), and an acid in the form of salt crystals, together by means of starch to keep it dry. When dissolved in water the acid and alkali react and emit carbon dioxide gas, which expands existing bubbles to leaven the mixture. Most current baking powders are double acting, that is, they have two acid salts, one which reacts at room temperature, producing a rise as soon as the dough or batter is ready, and another which reacts at a higher temperature, causing a additional rise during baking. Baking powders that have only the low-temperature acid salts are called single acting. Many recipes call for a process called creaming, where butter and sugar are beaten together to initiate tiny seed bubbles which the leavening gas will more expand.

Common low-temperature acid salts comprise cream of tartar, calcium phosphate, and citrate. High-temperature acid salts are regularly aluminium salts, such as calcium aluminum phosphate. They can be establish not only in many baking powders, but also in many non-dairy coffee creamers. Excess aluminium in the diet may be detrimental to human health, and so baking powders are available without it for people who are concerned and those sensitive to the taste.

While a variety of baking powders were sold in the first half of the 19th century, our modern variants were exposed by Alfred Bird. Eben Norton Horsford, a student of Justus von Liebig, who began his studies on baking powder in 1856, ultimately developed a variety he named in honor of Count Rumford. August Oetker, a German pharmacist, made baking powder very popular when he began selling his mixture to housewives. The same recipe he produced in 1891 is still sold as Backin in Germany. Oetker started the mass production of baking powder in 1898 and patented his technique in 1903.